


be still my foolish heart (don't ruin this on me)

by theatrythms



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gen, Miscommunication, Summer Romance, Underage Drinking, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 15:33:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20099506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theatrythms/pseuds/theatrythms
Summary: (The idea was always, always, always a bad one, but it sounded so romantical, so whimsical; to throw a stunt for all of her friends and get to spend time with Gilbert in the process.)Or; fake-dating, and the aftermath.





	be still my foolish heart (don't ruin this on me)

**Author's Note:**

> title is from almost (sweet music) by hozier !!   
this is my first attempt at a fake dating scenario and im a bit nervous abt how i got the characterization hahah anne was kinda hard to write but i hope i got it right !!! enjoy !! also thank u to alex for putting up with my Yearning(tm) . i weirdly wrote this in mind of being set in the 90s/early 00s so i kept it very technologically vague

_ I’m someone you maybe might love - Lorde _

Anne doesn’t even have the time to apologise for slamming the front door, feeling too foul to excuse herself for startling Mrs Lynde, or shocking Marilla. Anne has one thought in mind, and it’s getting away from everyone else, staying in her bedroom for the next winter, avoiding Gilbert Blythe and the rest of her class until the flowers are blooming again.

Summer is ending, and Anne broke Gilbert Blythe’s heart.

Diana trails after her, and through the muffled floorboards she can hear her gently explain an abridged version of the day’s events. She’ll leave out the details Anne can’t get out of her head, like the sun spilling through the yellow and green leaves, like the smoke from Charlie’s barbeque, how soft Diana’s picnic blanket was under her, and how her world took a dizzying turn once Gilbert looked at her.

(The idea was always, always, always a bad one, but it sounded so romantical, so whimsical, to throw a farce for all of her friends and get to spend time with Gilbert in the process.)

Diana does tell them that Gilbert told Anne he loved her, yelling over the music, and then it became a thing where everyone saw, and then everyone knew that they’d been lying the whole summer.

(Diana will also leave out how sad his eyes were, how hurt he looked when she snapped her hand away from his, how the muscles in his jaw hardened when she started shouting at him.)

She feels Diana slink onto the floor next to her bed, the stray daisies and daffodils falling out of her hair. Diana smells like summer, like sun cream, like peach deodorant, and Anne’s still wearing Gilbert’s jean jacket.

“I’m sorry Anne.” Diana says, her brown eyes sincere. “I really am. I didn’t think it would happen this way-”

“What do you mean  _ happen this way _ ?” Anne almost wails, mindful of her volume. She still feels so dizzy, mortified because she spent a good two minutes gaping at Gilbert in the silence, tongue-tied for the first time in forever, while all her friends just stared. “Diana?”

She worries her lip, looking down. Diana never keeps secrets, never fibs, never lies, never hides things, never breeches the bosom friendship. “I knew Gilbert felt that way about you.” Diana confesses, reaching out to hold her hand.

“Diana-”

“We all knew, Anne, but I swear I was the only one who knew you were pretending-”

“Then why did you let me go along with it?”

“Because I thought it would help you realise how you felt about him!” Diana rarely yells, rarely goes above her calm and collected tone. There’s a quiet fury in all of her features, in her scowl, the creases in her forehead. “I think Gilbert did too.”

  
  
  
  
  


(The conversation started out simple; how far would their friends go to see them as a couple. After too many games of truth or dare ending in a closet with her and Gilbert doing nothing but twiddling their thumbs, Anne decided to ask, with passion, if pretending to date would be the best way to get around all of this.

Summer had just begun, and Gilbert was picking wildflowers for her to press in her maths books, as a way of closing exams and the semester and going onto the next one.

“Is that such a good idea?” He’d asked, extending a buttercup for her collection.

“Of course it is.” She’d hummed, and somehow missed the blush that bloomed across his face, thinking the red of his cheeks was from the sun beaming down above them. He’d given her his bucket hat when they’d sat down, the oranges and lemons spiraling around the top of her head, casting a shadow onto her face. “When everyone sees how weird and strange it is that we’re  _ dating _ they’d see they were wrong and we were right.  _ And _ , don’t you think it’d be fun to throw the wool over everyone’s eyes? Have fun with it too? Like a prank, but he’d hold hands.”

“A prank… with hand holding?” Gilbert said slowly.

Looking back, Anne wishes she could’ve stopped herself then, forced herself to see the confusion in Gilbert’s eyes for something bigger than what it was.)

  
  
  
  


“What part of ‘Gilbert has a crush on you’ didn’t you understand?” Cole harps on, pulling at the clay in his hands. “I’m also slightly hurt I wasn’t brought into this elaborate scheme. No wonder why it blew up in your face.”

“We agreed only Diana would know, to keep the circle small.” When she realises what he’s said, Anne slams her pen down, a garbled affronted sound coming from her mouth. “And it didn’t blow up in my face!”

“Fine, it didn’t blow up.” He huffs. It’s been a while since Anne saw him mess with clay, not since he started wood carving, not since one of Aunt Josephine’s friends had let him have a shot at a diamond saw and a hunk of rock, but it’s a welcome sight, reminiscing about being fourteen, before dating and lying and growing up became the focus points of their lives. “It was more of a hurricane, no mercy, destroying everything in sight, wreckage to homes and businesses, casualties still unknown, knocking electricity-”

“I get your point, no need to go overboard with the metaphor.” Anne blanches, utterly unimpressed. It doesn’t do anything to help her guilt, just thinking over and over and over again about how much of a disaster it was.

“I have to give you credit, you guys were pretty convincing.”

“I sure hope we were.” She’s fighting the blush down, thinking about how committed she’d been, how easy it was to grab his hand, how natural it felt for their arms and hips and thighs to line up with each other when they sat with the group. She was committed because he was so reluctant, sheepish about everything, timid around her, and at least one of them had to sell it.

Cole’s hands still, hovering over the figure in his hands. Using blades of grass, he’s given the knuckles indents, the fingernails are short, the digits slim, with excess clay sliding out between them. He’ll dry it out, let the clay bleed and sag against the air, then take his sketches and model to his mentor who’d help him bring the sculpture to life in the stone. It’s a heart, a human one, referenced from one Gilbert’s biology books so it’s anatomically correct, being torn between two hands, and with it so close to being finished, Anne feels a sudden heaviness take over.

“If you didn’t like him,” Cole shakes his head, his eyes never leaving the clay. “Then why did you get so committed?”

  
  
  
  
  


(Hearing Josie Pye say  _ I’m happy you guys finally sorted it out _ was still one of the most bizarre moments of Anne’s life. Ruby didn’t cry, didn’t weep, didn’t even frown when they arrived at Jane and Billy Andrews’ seventeenth birthday party, with Gilbert holding both Anne’s gifts for Billy and Jane and his own, his jean jacket draped over Anne’s shoulders. Ruby Gillis telling Anne  _ it’s about time this happened!  _ felt like a sign from the universe that the world was ending. Charlie, Moody, and even Billy swapped an unknown amount of money between them, Billy’s scowl out of place, considering he was the birthday boy. Tillie and Jane all but tackled her, cornering her at the table about how long she’d liked him, why she liked him, how long were they together, and was it always a secret?

“Hey Anne!” Gilbert, ever the knight in shining armor, called across the garden, giving her the leverage to slip under Jane’s arm and outside, circling the trampoline. With a bright flourish, Gilbert presented her with a thin stick, holding a match to the top of it.

“Are these-”

The light took life within split seconds, the sparkler burning through the summer evening. The sparks kissed her cheeks, kissed her fingers, and while she watched it burn, she couldn’t see Gilbert watching her.)

  
  
  
  
  


“I simply can’t, Marilla. It’s still too fresh. Too raw.”

“Maybe for you, but the education board won’t let me allow you to just skip a day of school.”

“I’m sixteen, I’m legally allowed to drop out.”

Marilla’s laugh is more of a huff, low and haughty. “And what will you do then?”

Anne trails after her, dragging her boots along the floor. A week ago, the idea of going back to school was a welcome one, a topic her and Gilbert had agonised over, thinking about changing teachers, changing curriculums, changing classrooms.

(“We only have two more first days of school left.” Gilbert had mused, and the very thought of it overwhelmed Anne so much she elbowed him right in the stomach.)

“Work the farm with Matthew, duh?” She says, hopping onto the kitchen counter. “Or you could write me a note, just for the week? It’s way too soon to go back to school!”

“ _ Ms Stacy, please excuse Anne from class as she has broken her classmate’s heart and cannot stand to see him. _ ”

Marilla hasn’t been excessively scolding since Anne was thirteen, newly adopted, and having no sense or idea of what being in a permanent home meant, but Anne can’t help but stare at the ground, feeling all of her guilt and anguish flood through her stomach.

“Anne,” Marilla says, tipping her chin upwards. It’s an overly sweet gesture, kinder than Anne thinks she deserves. “Avoiding Gilbert isn’t going to do you any favors.”

  
  
  
  
  


(“Kissing practice?!” Diana looked almost scandalised, sitting up straighter on her bed.

“It’s not a big deal, Diana.”

“It absolutely is a big deal, Anne! How could you not tell me? I had to find out with Ruby screaming down my ear, and Charlie did that awful thing where he whistles really loud.”

Ruby’s sixteenth birthday came and went with a very extravagant party in a function room, followed by a garden party in her house the next day, their tight group wound around each other in her sitting room, her older sister’s flitting in and out to see if anyone needed anything.

The whole room had gone silent, when Anne leant forward and kissed Gilbert to say thanks for getting her a plate of finger sandwiches from the next room. The echoing screams that followed, primarily from Diana, the only one in the whole world who knew it was a farce, were almost deafening.

“We’re dating guys,” Gilbert had recovered, two of his fingers touching his lips. “Makes sense we’d kiss?”

Anne turned around in her desk, propping herself up on her chin. “We’ve all played spin the bottle, or truth or dare, or practiced kissing with each other, how is this any different?” Her smile became sly, almost wolfish. “You’ve kissed-”

“That was a game, Anne!” Her face was suddenly very bright. “A game we all played. You and Gilbert are in a relationship!” Diana spluttered for a second, waving her hands. “Pretending! I meant pretending! You and Gilbert aren’t in a relationship.”

“Exactly, I’m glad you remembered!”

“Someone has to!”)

  
  
  
  
  


Anne shrinks in between Diana and Cole for form room, watching Ms Stacy rattle off the key points of her own summer, which included white water rafting, hiking along the west of Ireland, taking an obscene amount of trains across Europe, and wandering back to Prince Edward Island.

“I assume most of you stayed local this summer?” She asks, casting her glance around the room. Anne can feel Gilbert’s eyes on the back of her head, everyone’s gaze lingering on her.

_ “She’s the one who pretended to have a boyfriend. And he went along with it too!” _

_ “Why would she want to pretend to have a boyfriend, that makes no sense. Probably to convince everyone that someone wants her.” _

Josie’s voice seems louder than the rest, from two rows away.  _ “Probably. It’s pathetic, honestly.” _

Anne hasn’t seen Josie or anyone else in her friend group since the picnic, since Gilbert tried and failed to confess how he felt, since she publically yelled at him for holding her hand. She left without explaining herself, leaving Gilbert to be the one to pick everything up, try to make people understand what happened, and that was a punishment Anne wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy, much less Gilbert.

“I went to Alberta, Ms Stacy.” Gilbert says, and Anne tries not to shudder at his voice. “Just for a week, not that long.”

“Haven’t been that far west myself… need to check that out sometime soon.” She muses, then leans against her desk. “Aside from Alberta, have a nice summer?”

A chill sweeps through the class, a wash of whispers crowding the whole room. Anne wishes the ground would open up any second now, steal her away into the underworld, and then Gilbert could go on living his life without ever remembering the summer he fake dated Anne Shirley-Cuthbert.

Gilbert doesn’t answer with words, and Anne won’t turn around to see his face as he shrugs.

  
  
  
  
  


(Here’s how Gilbert Blythe spent his summer; laughing with Anne, talking with Anne, watching a selection of dreadful and fantastic movies and TV shows with Anne, hugging Anne, kissing Anne, chastely, when everyone in their life could see, talking with her on the phone well into the night, watching the sun rise drearily over the fields, meeting her somewhere between Green Gables and his house, starting the day at the same time as the sun. Gilbert spent his entire summer with Anne, and he can’t say he regrets it.

Gilbert spent his seventeenth birthday party on a picnic blanket with his best friends, with Anne wrapping flower stems around each other to make a crown for him, with Anne wearing his jacket to stop herself from getting sunburnt, with Anne pressing a kiss to his forehead before getting him another can of coke, double checking that the cake she baked him hadn’t melted yet. Gilbert turned seventeen six days later, with no call from Anne, no emails from Anne, no notice from Anne, and it hurt that it was so easy for her to walk out of his life, when it would kill him to walk out of her’s.)

  
  
  
  
  


“The longer it goes on the worse I feel. It’s like I’ve got a thousand rocks in my stomach and they’re falling into my legs.”

“That’s called guilt, Anne.” Ruby’s voice lowers, her green eyes widening. “It’s a bad feeling, Anne.”

“It’s been a long time. It’s been almost a month.” Diana says, seems to count in her head, before continuing. “It’s been three weeks.”

“And Gilbert is still sulky.” Cole points out, gesturing with his apple.

“He’ll feel better when people stop talking about it.” Anne says. She digs the heels of her hands into her eyes, feeling that flip in her stomach, the dredges of her anxiety creeping up and over her head. “I know I will.”

“People still think you’re a liar who led him on for popularity.” Ruby is always blunt, even in times of her friend’s distress. She tucks her top lip into her bottom and scowls.

“I didn’t lead him on! I was honest with him when he wanted more! I told him that I couldn’t give him that.”

Diana wrinkles her nose. “Couldn’t or wouldn’t, don’t you mean?” And before Anne can rebuff that Cole leans into their group, a saving grace, to stop Anne from saying something she didn’t mean.

“Very publically too.” Ruby quips.

“Anne does have a point,” Cole says, his apple now down to the core. “At least she stopped it before it went too far. Even if the dumb plan was her’s in the first place.”

“I never went too far with Gilbert, I always knew it wasn’t real!” Anne says, and can’t even believe herself.

  
  
  
  
  


(Except that wasn’t quite true.

There’s one brief moment that Anne’s been thinking about since before the picnic.

Under Josie Pye’s stairs, they could waste away the hours of her party, with his hands on her hips and her arms wrapped around his waist, awkwardly sitting side by side, because that’s what couples do; they sneak away at parties and made out, away from the room, away from the rest of everything, and it wasn’t the end of the world, and no one batted an eye. Not even Diana in England could hunt Anne down when it felt so frighteningly natural.

The party at Josie’s really begun when she opened her brother’s liquor cabinet and the rest of the night was spent in some dreamy haze, the types of nights where she asks Jerry to come and pick her up to avoid troubling Marilla or Matthew, with Cole sipping wine the way he does with Aunt Josephine, Diana always giggling and Josie being mindful to replace the vodka with water, the cider with apple juice. Ruby looking decidedly sad in the corner, with all of her woes caught up with her.

Anne, at that point in the summer, in muggy early August, had never gone further than a chaste, sweet kiss with Gilbert, always on the verge of lingering, and she’d push against that urge to kiss deeper, before Gilbert pulled away first.

He always pulled away first, and Anne couldn’t remember when that started to sting.

But this time there wasn’t any lingering. This time Anne Shirley kissed him long enough that she could laugh against his lips and feel him laugh against her’s. Anne Shirley held a clump of his blue flannel shirt in her hand from when she pulled him closer, and this time he didn’t push away.

Even in her hazy mind, she found herself wondering. Found herself happy she was there with Gilbert, and she was the only person in the world who could kiss him like this, or spend all of her time with him, or call him her’s, even when he wasn’t.

Even if they were pretending.

“Sometimes I wish this was real.” She’d sighed, staring into his face, and it was like he’d sobered in that instance, his eyes once full of adoration were now full of concern.

“C’mon Anne,” He said, standing up. “Let’s find you some water.”)

  
  
  
  
  


The ugliest conversation she’s ever had happens leaving the library. She grabs his wrist and he jumps like she’s burnt him. But there’s no yelling. And he doesn’t say anything hateful. And she doesn’t say anything mean either. It feels like they’re talking about it. Anne’s apology gets stuck to the top of her mouth, hidden by her second voice, but he seems fine, like four weeks of licking his own wounds has done a world of good for him.

“I think it hurt less when you whacked a plank of wood over my head.” Gilbert laughs, when everything is said and done, and it only marginally unfurls Anne’s anxiety.

“I hope you had a nice birthday!” She gets out instead. They had plans for his actual day, plans for the beach abandoned with the tidal wave that was his confession.

Gilbert’s smile doesn’t reach his eyes, but he humors her anyway. “Well, I’m certainly older now.”

(He is, but so is she.)

“See you tomorrow, Anne.” He says, cheerily, and Anne waits a good few minutes before turning on her heel and walking the other way.

  
  
  
  
  


(“I could stay here all day!” Anne proclaimed, tucking herself deeper into the grass, letting the summer heat stick and cling to her. It was an easy day, a simple day, a stack of books between her and Gilbert and a flask of iced tea. “It’s nice, just us.” She said, and meant it.

Gilbert’s bucket hat, this time with stars and triangles, hid his face, but she knew he was smiling, with the upturned corners of his lips. It was fake date number four, early in June, and the days were beginning to go on and on. And with their agreement, they could hang out together forever, without anyone nosing in, no one asking questions, just them in nature.

“Yeah,” His voice had a strange twinge. “It’s not so horrible.”)

  
  
  
  
  


It’s mid October when she realises she can’t just be friends with Gilbert Blythe. Not after the summer. Diana, as always, is there to catch her.

“I ruined everything, didn’t I?”

Diana frowns, sweetly, and rubs Anne’s arm gently. “I’m your best friend, so I’ll be honest, but not everything is ruined. Somethings are, but not everything.”

“You’re not just saying that, are you?”

“I just want you to be happy, Anne. Bosom buddies want that for one another.” She rolls her eyes, but it’s all in good spirit. “And your summer with Gilbert Blythe was some of the happiest times I’ve seen you. I know I must’ve seemed harsh when it was happening, but I just didn’t want you getting hurt, both of you.”

Diana’s reaction to the picnic confession sometimes played in slow motion in her head. Her face went from shock, to understanding, to sheer panic in a matter of seconds.

“How do I tell someone ‘I’m in love with you so much you make my heart feel like it’s being torn in half’ after ruining everything? He hates me, Diana, he really and truly does.”

It’s almost like she can see the light bulb illuminate in Diana’s eyes, the light shining through her smile. “Do you still have his jacket?”

(It’s a new scheme, but this time it’s for love, not something silly as attention, or the admiration of her classmates, but because this is how she feels, well and truly.)

  
  
  
  
  


(“The thing is Anne, I don’t want this to be fake anymore.”

“Gilbert, stop-”

“No, Anne, I don’t wanna pretend-” The music skid to a quick stop, just the minute his voice got louder. “I love you, I really do.”

Anne, despite three months of being with him, couldn’t accept that. “You can’t!”

“I do! I want this to be real.”

And with everyone watching her, Anne didn’t know what else to say, speechless for the first time in God knows how long. “Well I don’t!”

And she got up and ran home. That was how summer ended, with Diana calling after her, and Gilbert’s heart broken.)

  
  
  
  
  


Cole had been too nice to give her the sketch, smoothed out and inked over, cutting off the parts stained with clay or the lingering flecks of stone from the diamond saw, letting her write what she really felt on the back. She tucked the heart into his pocket and walked to his house, keeping it folded in her arms.

An olive branch in a way, handing him back his own jacket, even when she hates to part with it. Today could go one way or the other. When she rings the door, the words seem to spill out.

“I want it to be real too.” She says, and feels her heart lift a hundred times.

“Door’s for you Gilbert!” Someone says, after a beat of silence.

(Before he stepped out to greet Anne, bowled over, half-laughing and half-crying, Bash sent him such a look he had no idea what to expect.)

He crouches down next to her. “Anne?! What’re you--Are you okay? Did something happen?!”

Anne reaches out to him, pulling him down to her level, still hiccuping through her embarrassment. “Everything’s fine! Don’t worry I just-” She cuts herself off with a laugh. “I just confessed my love for  _ you, _ to your  _ roommate,  _ thinking you were gonna answer the door.” Anne says, before she can stop herself, and watches the way Gilbert’s face just melts.

“What did you say?” He asks, his voice quiet.

“Oh, I--dammit! I ruined it!” Anne wails, balling up the jacket. “I had a speech planned and everything, and there's a card in the pocket too.”

“You had a speech planned because… you’re in love with me?” He’s concentrating on one spot on his porch, determined not to look up, and with all of the tenderness she has, she tilts his chin up to her, so his green eyes are staring into her’s.

“I messed up, and did something really, really,  _ really  _ stupid and I’ve regretted it ever since.” Anne says, removing her hand, afraid to scare him away. “I think I’ve liked you all the time, and I just used the fake dating thing as like, a cover or something.” She adds, feeling incredibly lame compared to the pages and pages of prose she went through to prepare for this. “Like. No admitting our feelings, only dating, or something like that.”

“Well,” Gilbert finally says, his face bright red. “You’re not the only one who did that.”

“It’s out of order for me to show up and expect you to feel the same way still, and it’s okay if you don’t! It was wrong of me to put you through the fake stuff and take advantage of your feelings like that, and uh, I just wanted you to know that, eh, it, um, it wasn’t always--what I’m trying to say is-”

“Anne Shirley-Cuthbert are you getting flustered?” Gilbert prods, shifting closer to her. It’s a much, much better reaction than she was expecting.

“I’m trying to apologise Gilbert! You’re ruining it!” She drags her hands down her face with a groan.

“Well don’t! There’s nothing to apologise for!” Gilbert laughs. “Honestly, if you feel bad for ‘taking advantage of my feelings’, imagine how I feel.” He says, with all of this twisted guilt on his face she wants to reach out and even the lines herself. “I thought about ending it like, twice a week. It felt wrong to fake-date you feeling… the way I do.” 

He takes her hands away from her face, and Anne feels the same jolt of joy, and nerves, and anxiety and warmth and love and care she felt the first time she slid her hand into his, back before the leaves started to turn brown, back when the fields were still full of wildflowers.

“Feel as in present tense?” Anne asks, because it’s the only thing she got out of what he just said.

“Feel as in how… would you feel about dating me, for real this time?” Gilbert bites his bottom lip, suddenly very sheepish, suddenly very shy. “I can’t say much about myself but you were an awesome pretend girlfriend! Wouldn’t mind seeing what you’re like for real!”

A grin slides onto her face, starting from the left corner going all the way to the right. It feels like her lips are splitting at the seams, trying to keep all of her joy hidden behind her teeth. It’s hard to hide, when Gilbert Blythe is looking at her like that, holding his breath for her, waiting for what she’ll say.

“I don’t have a lot of experience with make-believe boyfriends, but I guess you did a fine job of it.”

“Enough to be promoted to real boyfriend?” Gilbert exhales, and all of the tension unwinds from her chest when she leans up to kiss him.

  
  
  
  
  


(Like a true boyfriend, Gilbert arrived to take her to the Andrews twin’s birthday party, his gift cards tucked into his pocket. Anne’s presents were more personal, even for Billy Andrews with her personal photo albums. Jane’s was considerably bigger.

“Do you want me to hold those?” He asked, extending his hand. She already had a box of Marilla’s sugar cookies under one arm, and juggling the decorative boxes for the twins was throwing her off kilter.

“I’m fine with them, thanks very much.”

“I’m your fake boyfriend, I have to be chivalrous like that.” He frowned as Anne shivered, the chill of the summer evening coming with the breeze. From the corner of her eye, she could see him shrugging off his denim jacket, resting it across her shoulders. “You can take my jacket, and,” Quickly, he swiped the boxes from her hands, jogging ahead before she realised. “And I’ll take the boxes. Deal?”

“Gilbert-”

“We’re almost there! Don’t fight it!” He laughed, as the Andrews’ house looms in the distance.

They stopped at the door, the sounds of the party coming muffled through the wood. This was the beginning of the plan, where it would all start, and if they slipped up here, everything was foiled.

“Just calm down Anne,” Gilbert said smiling softly, “Everything’ll be fine, as long as we stay together.”)

  
  
  
  
  


The second official debut as a couple comes at Diana’s annual Halloween party, Gilbert wearing a dreadful blond wig and black polo while Anne struggles to stop the black crop top she made four hours ago from riding up. Couples costumes are always normal, but Anne doesn’t think she’ll ever forget the shock and awe on everyone’s face when they figured out they’d gone as  _ Kim Possible  _ and  _ Ron Stoppable  _ for Halloween.

“I was just waiting for this, really, I always had a hunch.” Ruby, fittingly dragging around a werewolf mask around.

Cole’s Spider-Man costume is hand spray-painted, still faintly smelling of the fumes, had only squeezed her shoulder when she came in, his eyes dancing.

“I’ll take that ‘thank you’ whenever, by the way.” Diana says when she greets them, in full Themysciran battle armor in her Wonder Woman costume. She’s got her power pose down, her fists balled on her hips, but her smile is real and genuine.

“Can I take the wig off now? I think everyone’s got the jist.” He says, dodging Anne’s kiss.

“You make such a nice blonde,” Anne pouts, pulling at the fraying strands. “And just kiss me already, jeez am I diseased or something?”

“Why do you want to kiss me so bad?” He asks, pressing his forehead to her’s.

(Anne at the start of summer hadn’t realised how much she’d want this, how natural and good and right it felt, to be with Gilbert and to love Gilbert.)

“Catching up for lost time.” She says, and kisses him again and again and again.

**Author's Note:**

> also just for the record jane and billy are geminis, ruby is a cancer (and a year younger), josie is a leo and gilbert is a virgo , which is honestly the whole reason i wrote this in the first place , but also i needed an excuse to get them going to parties lol . also 100% we know gilbert went home and listened to supercut by lorde after the picnic confession and honestly hes not wrong  
anyway thank u for reading !!


End file.
